As the organizers of this year’s Academy Awards prepare to mount the 82nd edition of Hollywood’s preeminent gala, on March 7, 2010, they’d be wise to take in a viewing of the Chernobyl-grade catastrophe that was the 1989 Oscar telecast — if only to learn what not to do when hosting a star-studded awards show.
Widely considered the Worst Oscars Ever, the 61st Academy Awards burst forth like some Liberace fever dream, assaulting confused and frightened viewers with a fatal combination of Broadway camp and Vegas kitsch, the highlight of which was a disastrously ill-conceived duet between Rob Lowe and one seriously over-caffeinated Snow White impersonator:
Los Angeles Magazine has the inside story on the whole sordid affair (but not online, unfortunately). We’ll be live-blogging the 82nd Oscars on March 7, and we’re crossing our fingers for a Taylor Lautner/Kristen Stewart musical medley.
